Zond 8, also known as L-1 No.14, was the last in the series of circumlunar spacecraft, a member of the Soviet

Zond program Zond (russian: Зонд, lit=probe) was the name given to two distinct series of Soviet robotic spacecraft launched between 1964 and 1970. The first series, based on the 3MV planetary probe, was intended to gather information about nearby plan ...

, designed to rehearse a piloted circumlunar flight, an uncrewed version of

Soyuz 7K-L1 The Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft was designed to launch men from the Earth to circle the Moon without going into lunar orbit in the context of the Soviet crewed Moon-flyby program in the Moon race. It was based on the Soyuz 7K-OK. Several mo ...

crewed circumlunar flight spacecraft. The project was initiated in 1965 to compete with the Americans in the race to the Moon but lost its importance once three astronauts circled the Moon on the

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...

mission in December 1968.

Mission

Zond 8 was launched on 20 October 1970, at 19:55:39 GMT by a

Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index or SL-12 after its model number, 8K82K, was a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and ...

Blok D Blok D (russian: Блок Д meaning Block D) is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. The stage (and its derivatives) has been included in more than 320 launched roc ...

launcher from Site 81/23 of the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

, towards the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. Zond 8 had a mass of . The announced objectives of Zond 8 were investigations of the Moon and circumlunar space and testing of onboard systems and units. The spacecraft obtained photographs of Earth on 21 October from a distance of . After a mid-course correction on 22 October 1970 at a distance of from Earth. The spacecraft transmitted flight images of Earth for three days. Zond 8 reached the Moon without any apparent problems, circling its target on 24 October at a range of and took both

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and

color photographs Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

of the lunar surface during two separate sessions. The minimum distance from the Moon during the mission was 1,120 kilometres (696 miles) from the lunar surface. Scientific measurements were also obtained during the flight. After two mid-course corrections on the return leg, Zond 8 achieved a return trajectory over Earth's northern hemisphere instead of the standard southern approach profile, allowing Soviet ground control stations to maintain near-continuous contact with the craft. The guidance system, however, malfunctioned on the return leg, and the spacecraft performed a simple ballistic (instead of a guided) reentry into Earth's atmosphere. The reentry was different from other reentries in the Zond program as it went over the north pole and landed in the Indian Ocean. Zond 8 descent module reentered the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean at 13:55 GMT on 27 October 1970 at southeast of the Chagos Islands, from its original target point. The USSR recovery ship ''Taman'' was on hand to collect it and bring it back to Moscow. The Soviet Kremlin officials finally decided to cancel the L1 project in 1970.

Scientific instruments

* Imaging system * Solar wind collector packages

Zond 9

Zond 9, Soyuz 7K-L1 s/n 10, was planned but cancelled. Zond 9 was planned to launch in July 1969, carrying a crew of

Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, uk, Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the ...

and

Vitali Sevastyanov Vitaly Ivanovich Sevastyanov (russian: Вита́лий Ива́нович Севастья́нов; 8 July 1935 – 5 April 2010) was a Soviet cosmonaut and an engineer who flew on the Soyuz 9 and Soyuz 18 missions. He trained as an engin ...

, but never flew.

Zond 10

Zond 10, Soyuz 7K-L1 s/n 15, was planned but cancelled.globalsecurity.org L-1 Lunar Circumnavigation Mission
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References

External links